Life is too short to wear boring clothes so I interpret fashion and create my own

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Cutting Line Designs: A Shirt and Vest using the "Just A Pinch" pattern

I'm on autoship for Cutting Line Design patterns, but my pattern must have done the round the country route to get to me here in Asheville, NC from Winter Park FL. It finally arrived Saturday, but in anticipation, I had my fabric for my first "wearable muslin" already prepped and ready to go. Having already seen the finished measurements, and comparing them to other similar blouses and vests with the wearing and design ease I like, I went to town. I read the instructions twice and there are many unique techniques for both views. I always do the prep work as a unit for all pieces, clipping, marking, template pressing, interfacing and serging the edges if called for. Note that the hem width on the front and the back pieces is different and the collar construction is so unique that I've not seen it done anywhere else.

For this blouse with the front tucks (hence the name "Pinch") I used a menswear pinstripe, cotton/lycra shirting made for Tom Ford that I bought from Michael's Fabrics in Baltimore. You can never go wrong using high quality fabric, and I don't waste my time on anything else. The quality of the finished garment is comparable with high end ready-to-wear shirts and blouses by the houses of Anne Fontaine and PLANET. They are timeless and elegant, like this style. I've been fortunate to buy a few Anne Fontaine (AF) blouses on sale or at consignment shops, and included some photos of one for comparison on the Flickr album. The collar on the AF blouse I put some photos on Flickr to compare is similar in what you will achieve using Louise Cutting and Sandra Miller's detailed instructions.

On to the vest. I used a unique Japanese cotton. I bought this one because of all the great colors that are not only "my colors" but go with many other things I own and have sewn. The collars and fronts of the two garments are interchangeable, so I may use the vest collar on the next blouse/shirt I make. I veered from the collar instructions and catch-stitched the double collar in the center to hold it, but not squash the beauty of the double collar. The ponte knit top shown under the vest is the Odette top from The Sewing Workshop pattern. You can see several variations of that top/pattern in my Odette Flickr album.

Not only do I enjoy the journey of creating these great pieces, I take great pride in wearing them. Enjoy yours and the many photos of these on the "Just A Pinch" Flickr Album.

11 comments:

Just beautiful Terri - Hope you have a great spring this year! We have had a wonderful summer no drought but very hot! I am working on fit at the moment and getting the shoulders and armholes to work with my figure so lots of muslin sewing but finally getting somewhere.Cheers Jacqui from NZ

Aah, Terri, beautiful reniditions of this pattern. I have my copy waiting on the sewing room table. If not this weekend, then next. I just love Louise's patterns! And you always execute them so well. Such encouragement and inspiration for us all!

About Me

I enjoy styling, creating, sewing, and updating my wardrobe with ideas and details I find in unique designer collections and garments.
Another thing you need to know about me is that I hate to write about sewing. So this blog is basically a synopsis of what I've been up to with a few photos and links to Flickr of more photos and details in the captions. I'll tell you the size I made, but I won't be documenting alterations that nobody cares about because you aren't me, nor detailing techniques from the copyrighted pattern instructions I follow (buy the pattern if you want to know how it went together). I prefer to spend my time creating things I'm proud to wear, and believe me, I have things to do and places to wear them. I have one good Designer II Viking machine and a Babylock serger. My sewing space is simple and I only sew with quality fabric. You can see from the details that I don't do "sloppy sewing". My fine sewn garments last because they are well put together and I am the laundry queen when it comes to caring for them.